Bangladesh has been announced as the country with the lowest internet penetration rate in South Asia. According to a report by the International Telecommunication Union, just 14% of the Bangladeshi population have access to the internet. This falls well behind other countries such as the Maldives, the smallest country in the region, which has a penetration rate of 54%, and Myanmar which has a rate of 21%, even though mobile connections were only introduced recently. Additionally, it was also shown that only 2.4% of Bangladeshis have a fixed broadband subscription. Another report by the World Bank also reported that Bangladesh has the fifth largest offline population, with 148 million people still unable to get online. The lack of public service development online, and the government's anti-connectivity policy make it hard for the private sector to expand its coverage, with LIRNEasia's Abu Saeed Khan calling the situation “miserable”.Â
